


Purple Tears

by UmbraeCalamitas



Series: Episode Tag [4]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Fear, Fighting for your life, Friendship, Grief, Loss, Love, M/M, Resurrection, Sequel, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 06:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11594874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmbraeCalamitas/pseuds/UmbraeCalamitas
Summary: Sequel to "Darkness' Claim." Yugi has been consumed by the cold shadows, and the key to his escape may rest with the child he hears crying. Can he save the little dark prince and himself, or has the icy darkness already won his soul?





	Purple Tears

**Purple Tears**

Darkness.

Yugi did not _wake up_ to the darkness, but more fell into it as he would fall into slumber. This was more than a sleep, however. It seemed… deeper.

"Death," he whispered, the echo of the word around his dark prison bringing tears to his eyes. Dead… he was dead.

Yugi closed violet eyes, willing the darkness to be one with his soul, rather than a force consuming his body. He searched his mind for the cracks in his consciousness, seeking out his other half.

"Yami…" he pleaded.

There was no answer to his broken call, and tears slipped from his eyes, shattering on the ground like crystals.

Yami was gone.

Or was it Yugi who was gone?

" _Yugi! Switch now! Quickly!"_

The memory came back to him suddenly; the last thing he remembered. He had felt Yami's hand on his shoulder, the spirit touching his very soul. Arms had tried to catch him as darkness claimed him, but they had passed through him, their warmth lingering mere moments only, before everything was dark and cold.

Yugi did not mind the dark, for his other half was dark. Yami, the spirit that dwelled side-by-side with his soul, who was him and yet was not him, was darkness. His was a warm darkness, however; fires that kept the chills of fear in Yugi's soul at bay, and blazed into an inferno to consume his enemies and protect those he loved.

He did not fear the darkness, but he loathed the cold.

"Yami," he whispered weakly.

Yugi's strength seemed to leave him, his knees buckling beneath his form. He collapsed to the ground, unsure of where his strength had gone to. He had a sinking feeling in his heart that it was the cold, sucking the last of his life from him.

_I'm not entirely dead yet, then,_ he mused softly. Perhaps the spirit was holding him to this world, sustaining him with what strength he had. Yugi felt more tears slip down his cheeks as he thought of that.

_No, Spirit,_ he silently begged his other half, _Don't destroy yourself… not for me._

Somehow, however, he knew that the spirit would not listen, even if he could hear Yugi's pleas. Where Yugi was quiet and kept his opinions to himself, Yami spoke aloud his thoughts. Where Yugi was gentle, Yami was fierce. Where Yugi would placidly do as he was bid, Yami was as stubborn as Taurus. He would never back down from a fight, and he would never stop fighting for those he cared for.

Where Yugi was light, Yami was darkness.

_My darkness,_ he whispered weakly in his mind, no longer strong enough to hold his head up, to keep his eyes open. _My darkness… I'm so sorry._

Yugi closed his eyes, and the cold… the damned icy touch of nothingness stole him away from all that he held dear.

_Darkness._

Yugi opened his eyes weakly. He hurt… everywhere.

He was lying on his back, surrounded by his beloved darkness. And it was his beloved, for he could feel him…

"Ya…mi…" he whispered brokenly.

He could hear something… Yugi closed his eyes, straining to listen through the roaring shadows. It sounded like someone was crying. A child, buried deep within the shadows, sobbing out their soul.

Yugi felt compelled to help them. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself to his feet, staggering as his legs tried to refuse the weight of his body. He reached out for something to catch himself on, and the darkness seemed to reach forth and grasp him, gently holding him. Yugi closed his eyes. _Yami,_ he thought gratefully. _Darkness…_

Yugi could sense his other half, his darkness, his yin, but he could not feel their bond as he had before the cold shadows had consumed him. There seemed to be a wall around his darkness, keeping Yugi locked outside of the self-erected prison.

And the child he heard crying… somehow, Yugi was certain that the child was the key.

The sobbing had grown louder, and Yugi followed the growing cry as he staggered weakly through the shadowed realm in which he had woken. When he tripped, the darkness would immediately dart forth and catch him, and its presence brought him strength and hope. It was his Yami, he knew. Subconsciously, perhaps, but it was him, nonetheless. The touch was the same as when Yugi had succumbed to the power of the Shadow Realm, moments before in their duel with Pegasus. Caring, concerned, his darkness, so filled with warmth.

Yugi closed his eyes briefly, letting the darkness hug him in a comforting embrace, before he trudged onward. He was close, he could feel it. The child's cries were almost singing directly in his ears now, and he could almost see something within the darkness… a shadow within shadows…

And there he was, leaning against a wall of darkness. Silhouetted against shadows, the prince of this shadowy realm in which Yugi now found himself.

The exhausted boy walked a few more steps, before dropping to his knees before the child. The young one was nothing but a shadow. Yugi could not distinguish his face amidst the darkness, but for the tears rolling down his cheeks.

They were crimson tears. Tears of blood, rolling down the side of a living shadow.

Reaching forward, Yugi gently wiped the blood-tears away with his thumb, and he smiled at the child.

"Why do you cry, dark prince?" he asked. He spared a moment of thought to be confused by the title he used, but then passed it off. No matter the fact that he didn't know why he had spoken such words – they felt right.

"I-I have lost my way," the little boy answered in a broken voice. He sniffled loudly. "I remember… someone was with me." More crimson tears of blood slipped past the dark eyes that were shadowed in the nothingness that this world seemed to be made of. "Someone was lighting my way… but now… they're gone." The blood rained faster down his cheeks. "They left me here, where it's so dark… so dark… and so cold."

The shadows surrounding Yugi seemed to shiver, and Yugi himself felt the cold chill of this world seeping deeper into his core, trying once again to steal him away. He closed his eyes as weariness seemed to creep upon him, slipping out from his heart like a hunting cat and pounce on him. He shook the feeling away and the cold seemed to dissipate, disheartened for the moment at its failure. Yugi ignored his small victory, turning back to the boy.

"Where did your friend go?" he asked quietly, trying to reassure the boy with a gentle voice.

The boy sniffled loudly. "I-I don't know. He's… he's just gone… the darkness took him away from me… the cold… the cold has him now. He's… it's… so cold…"

Yugi reached forward and ran a hand gently down the boy's shadowed cheek. "Hush, dark prince, it will be all right." The little one sniffled disbelievingly. "I'll help you find your friend."

"It's too cold," the little boy whispered. "I can't move anymore… and you can't, either. The cold has you."

A jolt of fear rushed through Yugi at the realization that the boy was right. Yugi tried to move his legs, but he seemed to be trapped on his knees. The cold that had consumed the lower half of his body was making its way further up, taking him slowly into an embrace of death.

Yugi shivered at the cold, and bit back a cry as pain abruptly lanced through him. He heard the child before him whimper in fear and he forced his eyes open, violet dancing in the darkness.

"It's all right," he promised the little boy before him. "I'll protect you."

"How can you?" the boy whispered fearfully. "You're trapped."

Yugi smiled, the grin soft and serene, as a feeling of peace overcame him. "The darkness is my friend," he explained in a gentle whisper. "The darkness will protect us."

"The… darkness…" the little boy whispered in confusion. Suddenly, he cried out in fear and pain, and Yugi raised his head to see deeper shadows reaching out of the darkness. He could feel the cold wafting from their forms, driving away the darkness that warmed Yugi's soul with the eternal presence of his other self.

"Yami," he whispered.

"Yugi! Help me!" the little boy cried, crimson tears blooming from his eyes like flowers, raining down upon the shadowed ground of this other world… this world within a world.

"Let him go!" he cried at the cold shadow hands, straining against the icy touch that held his legs in place. It had taken his arms now, holding them behind him as he strained forward, no longer feeling frozen as much as he was _chained_.

_N-No…_ he thought desperately, watching as the cold hands began to pull the shadow child away. "No!" he cried aloud, straining harder, pulling against the icy manacles that had claimed his wrists as their dwelling. "No! You can't have him!"

There were no words spoken, but the darkness seemed to mock him, question him with hisses of cold wind and nips of frozen teeth. _Who are you to stop us?_ they asked with cold, unspoken whispers.

Yugi pulled against his chains, unwilling to give up. His eyes strained through the darkness, seeking out the form of the child; darkness among darkness. The boy was being dragged from his sight, crying crimson tears all the way, but Yugi kept a firm gaze upon the child. He would not lose sight of the boy, the dark prince.

"Let him go!" Yugi screamed in anger.

"Yugi, help me!" the little boy cried desperately. Crimson beads fell from his eyes, and he screamed in pain as frozen claws dug into his dark flesh.

Yugi pulled and strained and fought the chains that bound him. The little boy, the little shadow… they were trying to steal him away. The cold, the cold… Yugi felt it trying to take him, too. It had moved up his arms and legs, consuming the entirety of his torso and now working feverishly upon his neck, crawling up his throat and stealing away his breath.

"Yugi!" the little boy screamed, but it didn't seem to be the little boy's voice anymore. This voice was deeper, and at one time it had been stronger. Now, however, it was laced with a pain that Yugi found fear in, for the pain was a cold force that bit at his mind.

Yugi closed his eyes. The cold had reached his face, its icy touch consuming his wild hair, dancing over his ears. Yugi felt his eyelids turn to chill, and then he was unable to open them to look at the young shadow boy. The icy touch reached his lips and seemed to kiss them softly, hesitantly. For a moment, they retreated, as though afraid.

"Yugi!" that pained voice called again, the cold stealing away Yugi's heart.

The ice around him gave a cry of delight, and then the cold forsook another kiss to his lips and dove past them. Yugi gave a strangled cry, but the cold stole it away, racing down his insides and seeking out his heart.

"Aibou…"

Arms… warmth… Yugi felt the cold recede with a weak and strangled cry. It retreated from his form, slipping swiftly past his lips in a terrified flight.

The warmth reached forward, kissing Yugi gently, and as it touched him he felt the ice's effects fully drain away. He inhaled a deep, sudden breath, pain rocketing through him as the air rushed into his lungs. He tried to cry out but managed only to choke upon his agony.

Warmth…

It rushed forward, comforting him. It wrapped slender arms of darkness around him and held him tightly. Yugi shivered in that embrace, but the warmth held him close and slowly, the ice began to melt away entirely, and Yugi looked to see the shadows who held him.

He was looking up into darkness, crimson tears blossoming like sweet-smelling roses from the eyes of the one who held him. "Dark… prince," he whispered softly.

The shadow child nodded softly, and Yugi could feel his smile. "You came back," he whispered softly.

"… came… back?"

"I thought I'd lost you," the little boy whispered. "When the darkness, the cold took you away… I thought you were gone forever."

Something… Yugi thought on the voice he had heard calling his name. It had been the little boy's, and then it had been…

"Y-Yami?" Yugi whispered.

The darkness seemed to come into focus, the shadows dancing in illustrious patterns before his eyes, revealing the colors they held but hid from those without the eyes to see the truth. Crimson orbs gazed down upon Yugi in a mixture of concern and happiness, tears of blood raining down the tan flesh of a child with wild black and purple hair, streaks of golden lightning dancing mockingly about his head.

"My light," the little Yami whispered, closing his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks, now the soft blue of peace, rather than the crimson of agony. "My light… you came back…"

Yugi gasped in surprise, as the tan flesh of the child seemed to disappear, fading away until Yugi could barely see him.

"W-Wait!" Yugi cried desperately. "D-Don't go…"

The child lifted his head, gazing at Yugi happily with sweet crimson eyes. "Thank you," he whispered, his voice echoing softly, "for lighting my way…"

And then he was gone.

A loud creaking interrupted Yugi's tears. He raised his head weakly to gaze across the dark room, to see a growing crack of light opening up to the dark world. His mouth opened in surprise as the room around him was lit, revealing golden walls decorated in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, staircases leading every which way in an endless labyrinth of corridors and doorways.

Yugi peered out of the door to see another door, a very familiar one, staring back at him.

The door was closed, and the wood had become dark. Ice still clung to its edges, the cold unwilling to release its prize.

Forcing himself to his feet, knowing what he had to do, Yugi staggered forward. He stumbled weakly through the room, catching himself on the doorway to the dark Soul Room and holding tightly to the familiar darkness, reveling in the feeling of his other half.

"Yami," he whispered, the name a chant to give himself strength.

Opening violet eyes, Yugi pushed forward, grabbing the handle to his own door and shaking away the frozen crystals that clung stubbornly. They seemed to cry out in pain and fear, but melted away at his command, unable to defeat his determination, and the warmth that held him close.

Taking a deep breath, Yugi turned the knob, and pushed open the door.

Yugi felt something wet on his cheeks… tears? He hadn't been crying, had he?

Warmth… Yugi melted into the embrace that held him, smiling softly at the darkness that promised him protection, friendship, and so much more.

His thoughts faltered in surprise as more tears fell onto his face. The darkness around him quivered. Yugi opened weary eyes, and the sight he was greeted by made tears come to his own eyes.

It was his darkness who was holding him; he had known that. He rested gently in Yami's arms, the spirit's arms gripping him tightly, holding him close to his own chest.

The regal face was bowed, the tan flesh marred with tracks of tears and the beautiful crimson eyes closed in pain, as fresh tears fought to be the first to fall.

"Yugi…" the spirit whispered weakly, clutching Yugi tighter to his chest, and he could feel the cold on Yami's hands, reaching upward and trying to consume the darkness where it could not have the light. The ice snarled at Yugi, biting him angrily, and Yugi groaned loudly. The ice retreated.

"Y-Yami," he whispered softly.

He felt his counterpart still, felt the fear and the desperation racing through the link; the hope, and the terror. Crimson eyes opened, swirling with pain. Yugi felt tears come to his eyes immediately at the gaze he was receiving from his other half. This was all his fault.

"I-I'm sorry," he whispered.

Crimson tears…

"Yugi…" the spirit whispered, afraid to believe it. "Yugi… please… you're… you're really here?"

Yugi felt his other half's pain, and he suffered the effects of the pain, drawing it into himself, away from his dark. He saw his counterpart's eyes widen at the gesture of kindness – one that no illusion would ever have been able to perform.

"Yes," Yugi replied softly, weakly, "I came back."

"You came back," Yami repeated. Fresh tears consumed his eyes and he buried his face into Yugi's hair.

Yugi felt the emotions rushing at him, but he couldn't distinguish the mass. _"Yami?"_ he whispered fearfully.

" _Aibou… I thought I'd lost you,"_ Yami replied weakly.

Yugi smiled softly. _Relief._ For a moment, he was afraid that Yami was having mixed feelings about Yugi's return, but that emotion came through clearly. _Relief._

" _Yami,"_ Yugi whispered gently through their link, _"I will always… be with you."_ Crimson met violet, and Yugi smiled. _"You are my dark,"_ he said softly. _"I cannot exist… without you."_

" _Nor I you, Aibou, partner, light…"_ Crimson tears… Yami's eyes closed at the pain of losing his most prized gift from the Gods. _"I am nothing without you."_ Those crimson eyes danced with tears, tears of pain and happiness... red and blue… _"Thank you…"_ Yami whispered softly, and Yugi was reminded of the young Yami that he had met within the depths of his counterpart's Soul Room, _"for showing me what it is… to love."_

Yugi gasped lightly in surprise at the words, his violet eyes seeking his companion's for assertion of the truth, though the emotions roaring through their link was truth enough. _Love… endless warmth… an eternal embrace… love…_

Yugi's eyes filled with tears as he stared up at his yami, his dark. _"I love you, too, Yami,"_ he whispered, and felt the happiness radiating through the link. His own reached out to match it.

" _I love you, Aibou,"_ Yami whispered, _"my love, my life."_ Yugi felt Yami's lips brush tenderly against his. _"I love you, my light, my soul…"_

Yugi reached up, seeking the warmth of those lips, and was met with an embrace of love, of happiness, and their emotions danced with each other in their minds. Crimson tracks among their sheets had carved the path for the blue happiness, and they mingled together, pain giving way for happiness, happiness making way for love.

Purple tears.


End file.
